"God Bless America" has been played at countless sporting events, but Lady Gaga took it to new heights when she sang it from the top of the stadium at the 2017 Super Bowl in Houston between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons. Coming just months after the election of Donald Trump, America was divided politically, but Gaga pledged to keep politics out of her performance. She did make a statement of sort with her opening number, where after doing a verse from "God Bless America," she did a verse from "This Land Is Your Land," the song Woody Guthrie wrote to parody "God Bless America." Before jumping to the field, she recited a bit from the Pledge of Allegiance:
"Kashmir" is the only Led Zeppelin song to use outside musicians, as it needed strings and horns.
When The Kinks released "Lola," most people didn't realize Lola was a man. "I was dancing with this beautiful blonde, then we went out into the daylight and I saw her stubble," Ray Davies said of the inspiration.
Buddy Holly got the title for his hit song "That'll Be The Day" from a phrase John Wayne repeats in the 1956 movie The Searchers.
Billy Joel is surprised that "Piano Man" is so successful. He called it "an old, long song about a guy at a depressing piano bar."
The song "Without You," a hit for Nilsson in 1972 and Mariah Carey in 1994, was written and originally recorded by Badfinger in 1970.
Jon Bon Jovi earned his first movie credit - Young Guns II - by writing "Blaze Of Glory" for the film.
Where words like "email," "thirsty," "Twitter" and "gangsta" first showed up in songs, and which songs popularized them.
In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.
Despite her reticent personality, Adele's life and music are filled with intrigue. See if you can spot the true tales.
Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."
Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.
In the name of song explanation, Al talks about scoring heroin for William Burroughs, and that's not even the most shocking story in this one.